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Thursday, December 31, 2015

Houston Mosque Arson Update: Liberal Media Have Egg On Their Faces

Savoy Masjid (Mosque) in Houston

Now that police have arrested Gary Nathaniel Moore, a Muslim, for the fire that broke out last week at a Houston mosque (which he attended), a number of liberal outlets have egg on their collective faces after their initial reporting that talked about a wave of hate crimes against Muslims and their mosques.

In addition, Daily Caller, a conservative blog, and Salon.com, a liberal blog, are in a battle over a posting about the fire by Salon writer Ben Norton, who was reported to have taken his post down after it came out that Moore was a Muslim (and no hate crime occurred).

“The piece was not ‘taken down.’ It was temporarily reverted to a draft, in order to be edited. I was working on another piece at the time (I often write three to four per day) and, as soon as I finished it (a piece criticizing Obama’s mass deportation policies, I might add), I added an update to the Houston mosque piece and it was republished at 5pm, with an editor’s note. I’m sorry this doesn’t fit your narrative, but your entire post is not just misleading — it is plain wrong.”-Ben Norton, Salon.comHere is Norton's updated post from Salon.com:http://www.salon.com/2015/12/30/amid_escalating_anti_muslim_violence_suspect_arrested_for_allegedly_setting_houston_mosque_on_fire_on_christmas/Whatever the circumstances of the temporary take down of Norton's post, it appears the truth didn't fit his and Salon's narrative.

The tone of the article was originally, "here's another incident of anti-Muslim hate crime". Then he "updated" it to an article about all the anti-Muslim hate crimes going on, but-er- by the way- the Houston perp was a Muslim.

It's kinda like writing an article about how all the European and American Jews are whipping up anti-Nazi hysteria and including a brief reference to the April 1933 boycott of Jewish shops in Germany.

The writer made an instant assumption that the burning was by anti-Muslim bigots. Then when the truth came out, he tried to change a few words-acknowledge the fact but within the context of the original theme about anti-Muslim hate crimes-which by the way- are few and far between. Hate crimes against Jews are by far the biggest problem.

Final point: Criticism of Islam is certainly rising especial after the events of this past year in Europe and San Bernardino. More and more people are saying, "Enough is enough". That has not translated into a wave a hate crimes as alleged by CAIR and Norton.

The "Salon" knows it can get away with this slimy journalism because they get their lead from the White House. After the San Bernardino islamist slaughter of Americans, the White House invites the Muslim Brotherhood, which has recently been designated as a terrorist group by Great Britian, as some other Middle East countries have done, to discuss anti-Muslim Islamophobia at a Dec. 14 meeting on "countering anti-Muslim animus included Hassan Shibly, executive director of Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Florida chapter. The same forum – attended by Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett and Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes – also included Farhana Khera, president and executive director of Muslim Advocates; Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab-American Institute (AAI); Mohamed Magid, imam of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS); and Hoda Hawa, director of policy and advocacy with the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) among others." (from IPT article).

The only reason I know anything about salon.com is that Gary Fouse and my favorite columnist at The American Conservative reference it sometimes. Nothing I've read inclines me to seek it out as a source of either news or perspective.

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Roger Gardner of Radarsite (1936-2009)

About Me

Born 1945 in Los Angeles. Worked from 1998-2016 as adjunct teacher at University of California at Irvine Ext. teaching English as a second language.
Served three years in US Army Military Police at Erlangen, Germany 1966-68.
1970-1973- Criminal Investigator with US Customs
1973-1995 Criminal investigator with Drug Enforcement Administration. Stationed in Los Angeles, Bangkok, Milan, Italy, Pittsburgh and Office of Training, FBI Academy, Quantico, Va. until retirement.
Author of Erlangen-An American's History of a German Town-University Press of America 2005,
The Story of Papiamentu- A Study in Slavery and Language, University Press of America, 2002, and
The Languages of the Former Soviet Republics-Their History and Development, University Press of America, 2000.